This could easily have been included in my earlier post, Now Playing Charlotte: The ‘Uber-Contrived Reality Show’, or for that matter, in any number of posts. But it really deserves a place of its own. Do go and read the whole thing.
Matt Stoller at Naked Capitalism:
The Fake Election: 10 Arguments The Republicans Aren’t Making
Even authoritarian systems require legitimacy to retain the support of the governed, and the new authoritarian America is no exception. Since 2004, the brilliant public journalism advocate Jay Rosen has been asking, what is the point of a political convention? No news is made, yet over 15,000 journalists show up, ostensibly to cover the pomp. But everyone knows that coverage isn’t so much the point; these conventions trade shows for the political class, where party insiders, journalists, politicians, celebrities, corporate types, and lobbyists mingle to organize political hierarchies. The public is simply irrelevant, a mass of jeering and cheering message imbibers or apathetic and cynical former citizens, people who are unseen behind their TV screens. The only fresh elements are protesters, and they are met by a police state, lest they disrupt the insider deal-making.
Stoller argues that the best strategy the Republicans have for winning is to “dampen enthusiasm for Obama” among voters who are already “weak” in their support. He then lists “ten ironclad arguments” Republicans could make toward that end, but aren’t. A few of them:
1) The Tax Cheat Administration – When the Obama campaign brought out Bain and tax avoidance, the GOP would have gone after health care czar Tom Daschle ‘s tax cheating and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner tax problems. …
3) Obama Administration, Brought to You By Wall Street …
4) Obama Administration’s Handling of the Foreclosure Crisis …
7) Obama Pushing Offshoring of American Jobs …
8) Subversion of the Rule of Law – This is everything from refusing to prosecuting Wall Street bankers to having a kill list to destroy real estate law through the mortgage settlement. …
9) Suppression of Dissent – The administration’s DHS collaborated with local and state law enforcement to get rid of Occupy encampments.
10) Endless war – Obama’s national security apparatus has been keeping us in Afghanistan, at higher troop levels, than Bush did.
Realizing one likely reaction to this list, Stoller continues:
Though you might think it would be appallingly hypocritical if the Republicans made these arguments, when has that ever stopped them before?
So why aren’t they? Stoller:
… likely, the answer is that winning the race isn’t as important as ensuring that the political class is protected from democracy. …
And that is how elections operate in authoritarian America. The secondary goal is to win the election, the primary goal is to keep the public out of the deal-making.
Thank you Joyce. This is too true.
Stoller nails it. And the thing is, there are more and more and more people saying the same kind of things. They / We just have to keep doing it, because even with more of us saying it,it’s still a very steep uphill climb.